Tree of the Year 2019 Terms and Conditions

Winning a Tree Care Award to celebrate and secure a better future for your tree.

The winning Tree of the Year in each country will win, subject to the eligibility criteria below, a £1000 Tree Care Award aimed at protecting, supporting and celebrating a better future for your special tree.

Trees which are shortlisted and are not successful in winning Tree of the Year for their country, will receive, subject to the eligibility criteria below, a £500 Tree Care Award.

Each voter in the Tree of the Year Competition will also be entered into a random prize draw for their opportunity to win a £100 Sainsbury’s gift card.

A Tree Care Award could help cover the cost of necessary tree work such as:

tree surveys or professional management advice

tree work such as pruning, fencing, haloing, mulching for root protection and/or removal or management of competing vegetation.

Or it could help prescribe a more prosperous future for your tree, e.g. by:

providing interpretive or educational materials, signage or digital information that generates support for the tree

enabling community engagement activities directly related to supporting and protecting the tree.

The Woodland Trust will make a limited number of discretionary Arb Awards available to nominated trees that have the potential to benefit from professional Arboriculturist advice.

Terms and Conditions

Please read these terms and conditions carefully before voting.

These Competition Terms and Conditions are subject to any other terms and conditions provided to you or to which you are referred at the time of entering the competition.

Should you have any doubt about these terms and conditions then please contact The Woodland Trust, Kempton Way, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 6LL.

How to nominate a tree

It is free to nominate a tree

Your tree must be based in the UK

To enter you must complete the online entry form in full and be responsible for any costs of submitting your entry

You must ensure you have the relevant consent and permissions of the landowner, where the tree is situated, prior to the taking of any photograph and submission of your nomination

In the event your nominated tree becomes eligible for a Tree Care Award, you must inform the WT how you intend to spend the award before 1 March 2020.

Entry requirements

You must be a UK resident aged 18 or over

Entries are unlimited –you can nominate more than one tree

Employees of the Woodland Trust and their immediate families or persons connected with the competition and their immediate families, are not eligible to nominate a tree

Entries must be submitted electronically using the online entry form

Use of a false name or address will result in disqualification

Entries that are incomplete or illegible will not be valid and deemed void

All entries must be made directly by the person(s) nominating the tree

Start date and closing date

Nominations will open on the 6 May 2019

Nominations will close at noon on 19 July 2019

No responsibility is accepted for entries which are for any reason not received electronically by close of the competition and no responsibility can be accepted for entries lost, damaged or affected by any technical fault or computer virus or owing to anything outside of the reasonable control of the Trust.

Eligibility for a Tree Care Award

To be eligible for a £1000 Tree Care Award, you must be the nominee of the Tree of the Year that secures the largest number of votes in each country

To be eligible for a £500 Tree Care Award, you must be the nominee of the shortlisted tree which is placed either 2nd – 6th in England and 2nd-3rd in each of the following, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

There must be a named person responsible for the award and organising tree works

You must have a UK bank account the Award can be paid into

You must inform the WT how you intend to spend the award by 1 March 2020

You must have the written permission of the landowner for any proposed tree work or activities

Failure to adhere to or satisfy these eligibility requirements will lead to forfeiture of the Tree Care Award.

Eligibility for an Arb Award

To be eligible for an Arb Award, you must have nominated a tree to be Tree of the Year and have a named person responsible for receiving a report recommending management options.

Arb awards are discretionary and will be allocated by Woodland Trust staff to a small number of trees that have the potential to benefit from professional advice and landowners willing to act on that advice.

Shortlisted and Winning Trees

Shortlisted trees will be selected by a panel of tree experts including Woodland Trust staff. Their decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into concerning the decision

The panel of tree experts will select a shortlist of 10 nominated trees situated in England and a shortlist of 6 nominated trees in each of the following, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Subject to there being sufficient entries of quality, shortlisted trees in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be subject to a public vote and the tree with the most votes in each country will be declared the Tree of the Year winner

The Trees which are placed 2nd to 6th within the England shortlist will each receive a £500 Tree Care Award

The Trees which are placed 2nd and 3rd within each of the following; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland shortlists, will each receive a £500 Tree Care Award

Shortlisted tree nominees will be contacted and notified by post, phone or via email no later than 7 September 2019 or such later date at the Woodland Trust’s discretion. Those not shortlisted will be contacted via phone or email as soon as is reasonably practical

Reasonable efforts will be made to contact nominees of shortlisted trees. If nominees cannot be contacted, or are unable to comply with these Competition Terms and Conditions, the Woodland Trust reserves the right to offer the Tree Care Award to another entry and/or not to make an award

Failure to respond may result in forfeiture of the Tree Care Award.

Securing a Tree Care Award

Tree work/activity expenditure must not begin until written approval has been obtained from the landowner and a written Tree Care Award Offer has been made (and accepted) by the Woodland Trust

A short report with photographs of tree work/activities should be provided to the Trust before 31 December 2020

Subject to these Terms and Conditions, the winner(s) is (are) responsible for expenses and arrangements not specifically included in the prizes.

Voting

Voting opens on the 9 September 2019

Voting closes at noon on the 27 September 2019

Voters may only vote for 1 tree per country. Any further votes will be discounted.

Voter Prize Draw details

Each voter will receive one entry into the prize draw

The Terms and Conditions as set out in this document shall apply to this Prize Draw

One winner will be chosen from a random draw of voters in accordance with these Terms and Conditions. The draw will be performed by a random computer process

The winner will receive a £100 Sainsbury’s gift card

The winner will be notified by 31 October 2019 and the prize will be sent to the winner by post

The prize is non-exchangeable, non-transferable and is not redeemable for cash or other prizes

The prize draw is not open to Woodland Trust staff.

Data Protection

The Woodland Trust will collect and store the names and contact details of all nominees. The Woodland Trust will use this personal data for the following purposes:

managing the relationship between the nominees and the Woodland Trust in this Competition

communicating with nominees about all information regarding the Competition

communicating with nominees to answer their queries about the Competition

communicating with successful nominees and arranging the fulfilment of the award

By submitting a nomination into this Competition, nominees shall be aware their personal data will be processed by the Woodland Trust in accordance with, and for the purposes set out in, these terms and conditions

Where a nominee has consented, the Woodland Trust may contact the nominee using the personal data collected to provide information about our work, activities, campaigns, goods, services or promotions that the Woodland Trust offers

The personal data of the nominee will not be transferred to any third party other than for the fulfilment of delivery of the award

The Woodland Trust takes privacy very seriously, and will only use personal information in accordance with the terms of its Privacy Policy. By submitting their nomination, the nominee acknowledges and agrees that they have read and accepted the terms of the Woodland Trust’s Privacy Policy and these Terms and Conditions.

Miscellaneous Rules

This competition is promoted by the Woodland Trust. The Woodland Trust is a charity registered in England and Wales (No. 294344) and in Scotland (No. SC038885). A non-profit making company limited by guarantee. Registered in England No. 1982873.our registered office is at Kempton Way, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 6LL

By submitting your entry, you agree to grant the Woodland Trust a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sub-licensable right and world-wide license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display and exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to your entry, and/or to incorporate your entry in other works, in any media now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in your entry, and in accordance with privacy restrictions set out in the Woodland Trust’s Privacy Policy

The winner(s) agree(s) to the disclosure of their name, county or region and country of residence and will co-operate with any other reasonable requests by the Woodland Trust relating to any post-winning publicity

By entering the competition, you agree that the Woodland Trust is permitted to use any copyright in and to the entry submitted for any purpose, which may include publicity, marketing and promotional use and in any format whether now or revised in the future. The Woodland Trust may retain your competition entry indefinitely and may choose to display it on any of its websites in the future. Any future publication of your entry will be at the Woodland Trust’s sole and absolute discretion

You confirm that your entry is your own original work, and does not infringe the rights of third parties, including copyright. The Woodland Trust will not be held liable and you will indemnify the Woodland Trust with regard to any claims, loss, damages and costs made by a third party which arise as a result of the content of your entry, or its use by the Woodland Trust

We will acknowledge you wherever possible, but you agree that we are not obliged to do so. By submitting an entry, you agree that the Woodland Trust may use the material for any purpose and in any way it chooses, including, but not limited to, developing, manufacturing and marketing products. You also authorise the Woodland Trust to share your entry with any of its partners without requiring your prior consent

The Woodland Trust excludes all liability under these terms, in contract or tort (including negligence) for any loss, damage, costs and/or expenses, loss of profits, goodwill, consequential, indirect or special losses, howsoever caused, suffered or incurred in connection with the competition

We reserve the right to vary these Terms and Conditions at any time. Any variations will be notified to you by email and/or by posting the variations to our website

These Competition Terms and Conditions (as amended from time to time) constitute the entire agreement between you and the Woodland Trust concerning your entry to the Tree of the Year Competition

By entering the competition, all entrants agree to be bound by these Competition Terms and Conditions

If your contribution features other people who are recognisable you are responsible for ensuring you have their permission for the contribution to be treated according to the uses outlined.

Please note that on the form you are asked for your agreement that the Woodland Trust may stay in contact with you. We'd love to keep in touch with you so we can let you know more about our news, appeals, campaigns, events, products and how you can get involved.

By providing your contact details and ticking the box we will be able to contact you by email. This will overwrite any previous consent you have given, so please tick if you want to keep hearing from us. We will keep your details safe and never sell them. Our online privacy statementexplains all.